John Holland, 11th Airborne Division For another insight into the landing at Bito Beach, Leyte, John Holland, of the 675th Glider Field Artillery/11th Airborne Division speaks here… “February 18, 1943, I was assigned and shipped by train to Camp MacKall, Hoffman, North Carolina, and I arrived on the 22th. The Army had started their 1st […]
Leyte 1944 | Another Eye Witness Account
I had the best experience with backpack travellers for a good three years but realised that there will always be a feeling of betrayal. I have to be honest, not all nationalities I get along with and expected the villains of my personal adventure to come from them. Well, one was and I had nothing against him because it was expected. I hated his kind since I was a sperm. What hurts is those coming from those you always thought Had always been nice. One shook my bed in the middle of the night for eating crisps because he was more concerned about work next day than exploring the good things about people beyond the fences of your forest cottage (ok fine, that might have been my fault lol). The other was a couple who were more concerned about their opinions than exploring other people’s point of view. She was a Vegan but so was I (lasted a few weeks, lol) and still believe in Animal Rights. I just don’t want to rub it in to other people who don’t. I was the head chef of a student accomodation for indigenous Australians who were proud of their hunting culture. She got fired together with her boyfriend for not properly feeding the business clients but not before pissing me off. Every night, she would demand for a separate staff meal that was Vegan. I always thought that I would rather kill a human being than an animal but it was the first time I wanted to stab an animal lover who would save Animals at the expense of a human being … Me! They never lasted with other travellers from the last time I saw them. They finally bought a van and travelled on their own. Tsss! Where is the fun in that?
Anyways, I am mystified how some travellers find it difficult to get fair treatment even from societies we may consider inferior. Perhaps it’s the way they carry themselves? Are they not being nice? I had always been warned to stay away from the regional areas of Australia for they say that people there are intolerant of foreigners. I have been to three regional areas branded as “racist” but I have never experienced the foretold. In fact, I carried on the travel trail from these areas with love affairs left behind (sorry, this online journal includes flirts, lol). But maybe, I haven’t seen nothing yet. Anyways, the point is maybe I was carrying the right attitude compared to other travellers who were cocky? They say that they are just being honest but it is easy to be so when you are ignorant.
When I first arrived in Australia, I couldn’t be bothered to drop my use of “sir ” and “ma’am” and my Filipino (American) English. I insisted on flashlight, trash can, faucet, elevator, omitting the letter “u” in the word colour and pronouncing the “r”. I changed when I bumped into another Filipino cashier who was arguing with a local how to pronounce things. She insisted that she was using American English. Well sister, you are not in the Philippines anymore and what is the point of leaving the country if you were so at home in there that you wanted to bring it with you wherever you go?
My advice is that when you travel, leave everything behind but bear necessities, meaning Leave your comfort zone and bring nothing but a desire for fresh perspectives and universal language of acceptance and smile. Travel is all about experience, not comfort. It is not about what the place doesn’t have that your home does but experiencing how other people live. And best of all, try to talk to people. Who knows, a lightning might just strike.
It’s more fun in the Philippines. It’s not an Asian country nor is it totally European, American or Hispanic. It is an artificial nation carved out by capitalist patriots in 1898 as a result of the Secularization Issue, Reactionary-Liberal Wars in Madrid and ideals of the French and American Revolutions. Ironically, the Filipino colonists seceded from The Spanish Empire by means of war to create their own Spain in Asia, a better one that is based on the ideals of equality, liberty and justice (Egualidad, Libertad y Justicia). As a result, there was no process of de-hispanisation but rather a full speed of the process, a product of which was the Marcha Magdalo (music for the national anthem) was intentionally made by Julian Felipe (the composer) to sound like that of the one sang in Madrid and Spanish chosen as the sole official language. In 1902, the Ilustrados, that is the patriots and rising courtiers of Imperial Manila, lost the Philippine – American War and became an American colony. The de-hispanisation job was a result of American Rule but in fairness just died a natural death in the 1980s and totally replaced by American English and pop culture by then. The 1990s was a renaissance of Tagalog Culture (Manila). It is already 2014 and no where near an Asian country. So what is Filipino?
Teodoro Agoncillo, a leftist Filipino historian defined Filipino Culture as those practiced currently that are obviously not Spanish or American. The figures leave us with only 1 percent of what goes on in their daily lives. Filipinos eat hotcakes, bacon, hotdogs, longanisa, tocino, tapa, eggs, Sardinas Seccas (Tuyo or dried sardines), muffins, garlic rice, Pan de Sal, Champurado or corn flakes for breakfast. All of them are of Settler or American origin. The truth is that Filipino Food is anything that locals eat regularly, regardless of origin. Like we said, it is an artificial culture but with a local flare. Longanisa is chorizo with a local taste and McDonald’s serves garlic rice. KFC provides unlimited free gravy, a typical sauce in the Filipino Palette in addition to ketchup, soy sauce and sugar cane vinegar.
In February of 2014, I went back for a short holiday from a holiday (from Adelaide, South Australia, Australia) to Manila on a budget travel starting with a budget airline, that is Air Asia, ridiculously AUD600 return trip ticket compared to the AUD1,400 that Qantas or Philippine Airlines was selling. Naturally, they landed us on a budget airport (instead of the brand new NAIA III Terminal) in the rustic Manila Domestic Airport Terminal. Manila is quite new to the sudden increase in tourism and air traffic. As a result, the plane parked in the middle of the airport far from the already rustic old Manila Domestic Airport Terminal and had to be fetched by a bus which would take us to the arrivals. They finally brought the concept of Jeepney all the way to the first point of contact to the country when the “conductor” shouted at us to push back all the way to the end like sardines just as they always did with a Jeepney.. They were cramming a full load of Boeing 777 in a single bus! It was 2:30 AM and we finally arrived at the terminal just to be told that the customs official was still sleeping! We had to wait for him to wake up and finish his morning coffee (a good 25 minutes) while we packed like sardines in a small waiting area without chairs. The locals were giving the security officers an ear bash for being nincompoops while others explained politely to the poor tourists (many for the first time probably) what was going on. It’s more fun in the Philippines. My brother says “Well, you get what you pay for, you saved AUD600 plus my dignity for free to pick you up in the crappiest airport in the city instead of picking you up from the brand new NAIA III Terminal!” Lol. God bless my brother! My advice at this point is enjoy the journey and not the destination. Fly Air Asia. It is cheap, it is shit but more fun, lol. Otherwise, it’s just another AUD600 for a proper airline and modest terminal to arrive in.
The good thing about Manila is that you have a choice between a traditional Filipino Cuisine which will cost just almost as much as dining in Australia or street food as long as you can stomach it, – $1 for a can of coke alone. The prices have changed a lot since I left, almost 300 percent inflation. A bottle of coke in the “bangketa” used to be less than PhP10 or 30 cents and a full meal at PhP20 or $1.50. The bad thing about Manila is that the food scene is no place for a tramp, unlike Singapore or Malaysia where their best traditional food is found in cheap hawker stations.
It’s been five years since I lived in Manila as a local but I did remember surviving on PhP3000 on brunch, dinner and beers with office colleagues after work practically every day. When I came back two months ago, this amount only lasted me three days. With an inflation of let’s say 300 percent since 2009, let’s just do the math and multiply by three and narrate to you what a typical local on a budget eats throughout the week back in 2009:
AUD1 = PhP35 (Circa 2009)
Breakfast
McDonalds
Sausage Muffin and Coffee, PhP55
Pancakes and Sausage with Coffee, Big Breakfast, PhP55
Big Breakfast with Coffee, PhP75
Hash Browns, PhP17 each
Longanisa, Garlic Rice, Eggs with Coffee PhP89
Jolibee
Longanisa, Garlic Rice, Eggs with Coffee PhP89
Hotdogs, Garlic Rice, eggs with coffee PhP69
Tapa (beef jerky), Garlic Rice and Eggs with Coffee PhP89
Corned Beef, Garlic Rice and Eggs with Coffee PhP89
Bangus (Garlic Marinated Milkfish), Garlic Rice, Eggs with Coffee PhP99
Brunch
To save, I skip breakfast and lunch and combine the with a brunch at 10am during my morning coffee break at 15mins
Makati Jolijeeps
Double Rice, Sisig, Coke PHP40
Double Rice, Pork Chop, Coke PhP60
Double Rice, Pork Barbeque (skewer) PhP12
Note: choose Makati jolijeeps wisely. The ones behind Paseo de Roxas are awesome but still dirty but cheap! Lol
Snacks
Street Squid Balls PhP10
Street Kwek-Kwek (fried battered quail eggs) PhP10
Sky flakes (local biscuit brand) PhP4
Chippy (local corn chips) PhP10
Street Taho (tofu tapioca syrup drink) PhP10
Street Chicharon (pork rind) PhP5
Maxx Candy or Rolly Polly Magic Candy PhP2 for 3 pieces
C2 Green Tea (bottled ice tea) PhP10
Yosi (street slang for cigarette, hehe!) PhP2 each Malboro, Winston
To share:
Pizza Hut PhP500
Shakey’s PHP500
Yellow Cab Pizza PhP750
Pancit Palabok PhP200
Lunch
7-11 or Mini Stop
Hot Dog on a Bun and C2 Green Tea PhP30
Siopao Bola-Bola and C2 Green Tea PhP30
Fried Chicken and Rice and C2 Green Tea PhP100
McDonald’s, Jolibee, Cindy’s, Wendy’s
Budget Burger Meal (called Burger McDo in McDonald’s) PhP45
Modest Burger Meal (i.e. Mcdonald’s Quarter Pounder or Jolibee Champ ) P150
Burger Machine or any street burger vendor
Burger plus Coke PhP25
Hotdog on a bun plus coke PhP15
Brother’s Burger (The Best Local Burger!)
Hamburger, Onion Rings, Coke PhP200
Dinner
Gweilo’s, Gerry’s Grill, Pier One, Dencio’s, Catering to moneyless fresh graduates and yuppies
(Once a week only or you’ll go broke if living under 25 dollars a day)
Beers PhP60 per bottle (San Miguel Light or Pale Pilsen)
Sisig (Crispy Pork Mince, rind, onions, garlic on a sizzling plate ) PhP120
Gambas (Spicy Mixed Seafood, bell peppers, paprika, cayenne on a sizzling plate) PhP120
Gourmet Pizza (Marinara) PhP150
Crispy Pata (Crispy Pork Knuckles and leg) PhP220
Kare-Kare (Ox Tail and mixed vegetables in Peanut Stew) PhP220
Chicharon Bulaklak (Crispy Pig Offal) PhP100 per order
Garlic Mushrooms PhP60
Chicken Lollipops PhP120
Rice PhP10 each
Drunken Dinner
That feeling when you are drunk, didn’t get laid and looking for a substitute for sex, lol
Chowking
Congee PhP50
Tapsilog (Beef Jerky, Garlic Rice, Eggs) PhP65
Yahoo! In Ortigas Center
Rice and Lechon Liempo (Roast Pork Belly) PhP65
Rice and Lechon Manok (Roast Chicken) PhP70
At Home:
Canned Corned Beef PhP10
Canned Sisig PhP10
Hot Dogs
Fried Eggs
Salted Duck Eggs and tomato
Fried Chicken
Rice
Swamp Cabbage
Green Beans
Of course, as a general rule you spend more if you dine out every day. Nothing beats cooking at home and save your money on beers with friends, a reasonable night life and out of town trips to Calatagan or Puerto Galera on long weekends.
What was mentioned above is a typical local’s menu on a diet. Most of them are contemporary, meaning recently invented for the commoner’s palette save for the Kare-kare and Crispy Pata which have been a part of the Filipino kitchen since the colonial period. Traditional Filipino Food is found in restaurants at PhP 1000 to PhP1500 per person ($25-30). The really old fine dining restaurants dating back to the times charges more. Some of them are as follows:
Modest:
Barrio Fiesta
Max Fried Chicken
Dencio’s
Fine Dining:
Alphaland Member’s Club
Casa Isabel
Ilustrado
Like any artificial nation, Manila is not so crazy about traditional cuisine but more on new contemporary inventions inspired by traditional Filipino, Spanish, American and European Classic Cookery which they learn from culinary schools. As of present, the places to go are Greenbelt 5, Burgos Circle and Bonifacio High Street. In reality, traditional Filipino Cuisine is hard to find and is a dying cuisine that only their grandmothers could cook. Maybe someday, an institution will be established to preserve their colourful food culture or perhaps a book written about it.
Some traditional Filipino Dishes:
Afritada
Mechado
Morcon
Arroz Valenciana
Caldereta
Pinapaitan
Embutido
Sinigang
Bulalo
Tinola
Salpicao
Kare-Kare
Crispy Pata
Hamonado
Longanisa
Tocino
Tapa
Sardinas Seccas (Tuyo)
Bangus
Lechon
Adobo
Kinilaw
Just another interesting scene at The Adelaide Fringe
Adelaide is known as the Festival State. However, everything happens during a small window of late February to late March – Clipsal 500 (for the boring square Motor heads), Adelaide Fringe (Comedy Festival), Womad Festival (Music Festival). This time of the year is feels like home for the hippie and myself almost turned Vegan when I worked with a bunch of cool guys known as Gourmet Goon for the Womad Festival, a nomadic restaurant and takeaway place serving bush tucker, native Australian cuisine and everything from nature that is good for you. My favourite was their mixed berry smoothie.
In this picture, this man gets pissed at possible spectators just passing him by or those who did watch under the spell of NR (No Reaction). He decides to get a volunteer from the crowd who happens to be that poor guy lying on the ground. I’m sure they would have given each other a high five in the corner (probably knew each other well). Nonetheless, I was lucky not to have had the guy insured. I would be stuck with a bill paying premiums for years to come.
WORKING WITH THE GOURMET GOONS
The Gourmet Goon Menu
Gourmet Goons Jerry and Max
SUNNY’S BACKPACKERS ON FRANKLIN STREET
Sunny’s Backpackers
DRIVING BACK TO MELBOURNE
Driving to Melbourne from Adelaide. Farewell Adelaide, we will meet again. Thank you for the memories …
A typical backpack traveller in Australia lives on some $2 a meal or even less depending what state you are in and the grocery stores available. The cheapest ones so far is Adelaide and Sydney from my experience. Patriots from each state would react otherwise. For me, I only trust Coles but was told that the cheapest was Aldi’s but you have to be lucky to get a hostel near the latter. I am quite picky about my hostels, not with the amenities, but with the kind of travellers they attract. Some tends to attract rough and dodgy ones while others are simply magnets to The Lost Boys of Never-Never Land. These hostels are usually rustic and repulsive from a distance but you would be surprised how better they are from the well maintained ones. After all, travelling is not about comfort but experience. A close encounter with character. A dance with the devil under the pale moonlight.
A typical meal would be instant noodles but I have seen industrious ones that would make it a point to eat healthy salads and fruit. A hostel meal doesn’t have to be boring nor does it have to be expensive. You just need to get out of the box and not fuzz about it. You are travelling and will get your healthy fix when you get back home.
In Melbourne, Nomads All Nations provide free pasta and rice all day including coffee and sugar. Chances are, you will see free items in the fridge, that is groceries left behind by travellers moving on the tourist trail. For Hostel Risotto, you will need the following:
Rice 1cup free
Garlic Mince 2pieces $2 for a bag which will last your some two weeks or check the free section of the fridge
Onions 1pieces $2 for a bag which will last you some two weeks or check the free section of the fridge
Butter 150g $1.50 for 250g Coles Brand
Canned Mussels 1can $2.30
Cream 100ml $2 Coles Brand
Cask Wine White 100ml $12 for 7 Litres which you will drink at night anyways
Salt 10g $1.50 for a 1kg bag or try asking a fellow traveller
Pepper 2g $2.30
Makes Two Serves
1. On high heat, put 50g of butter in a hot pan until it melts with still a bit of bubble simmering
2. Sautee garlic and onions until it turns to an aromatic pulp known as a sofrito.
3. Add 1 cup of the free rice and sauté until it becomes like pearl
4. Deglaze with 100ml cask white wine
5. Add 2 cups of hot salted water (one ladle at a time) mixing the risotto until water is cooked off (you will get a creamy finish at the end of the process)
6. Take of the heat and add 100g of more butter on the risotto (let the remaining heat do the melting and mix thoroughly with the risotto base)
7. In a separate pot, reduce cream with canned mussels until you reach a good thick reduction. That should infuse the taste of the mussels in the reduction as well
8. Turn of the heat and add your risotto base to the reduction and serve on a flat plate (I doubt if you will find any pasta bowl in the hostels)
You may save the second serve for the next meal or try to pick up another traveller with the second plate (hehe!)
Make sure you drink the rest of the cask wine in the evening. Don’t be square and mingle with other travellers.
Bon Appetite!
It’s funny how simple mistakes lead to the greatest disasters in life. The Japanese sent the wrong message for unconditional surrender to the allied forces and ended up with two heavily desecrated cities from atomic bombing. The German ship captain nearby heard the distress call from the Titanic “we are sinking! we are sinking!” but being German mistook the message for that they were “zinking” (German English for “thinking”). So the German captain replied “what are you zinking about? LOL. So down the bottom of the Atlantic came the love that would have been for Leonardo and Kate.
Originally posted as “The Chaos Theory” on my early blog Casa de Mementos (http://joshavinante.multiply.com)
If I was a girl, I would fall head over heals.
With that guy next door strong enough to be my man.
I would express my love and be faithful to him.
And be taken for granted for it.
If I was a girl, I would wait long dragging minutes.
For that single text message of his assurance for his love.
Will stay away from pubs and boys.
While I wait.
If I was a girl, I will wait for eternity.
But will wait in vain.
Just when I would give up on him.
He would call and assure me of his love.
If I was a girl, I would send him multiple texts.
Telling him how much I love him and that I’m thinking of him.
But I will receive no reciprocation, neither by call or simple text.
And I will feel alone.
If I was a girl, I would feel helpless.
Contemplated to a life of misery.
I will lose my dignity.
And achieve nothing.
If I was a girl, I would think he turned off his phone.
Because he is not alone.
I would confront my love and ask for assurance.
But he will just laugh it off telling me I’m paranoid.
If I was a girl, I would think he isn’t taking me seriously.
Everytime he goes to bimbo-infested pubs without me.
I wouldn’t be enough to inspire him.
When he’s had a bad day at work.
So he goes out to drink by himself, in bimbo-infested pubs.
If I was a girl, my heart will be very dear to me.
More dear than some guy who don’t seem to care.
He can seem to live without me.
So why bother living with him.
If I was a girl, I will give him a second chance.
Because I still love him.
But he will take it for granted again.
Because I was so faithful to give him a second chance.
If I was a girl, I will leave him.
And break his comfort zone.
He comes chasing after me telling me that he loves me.
But that’s a story I’ve heard a million times.
If I was a girl, will I think that he did love me though in his own immature way?
He has hurt me so badly, will I trust him ever again?
Will I realize that I have changed him and turned his world upside down?
I do not know, because I am not a girl.
9.23.2009
Originally written on Casa de Mementos (http://joshvinante.multiply.com)
September 23, 2009
Dumaguete, Philippines
Against my will, I was assigned to Dumaguete in 2002 as a medical representative or territory manager, which ever term suits my eternally broken ego. I joined the pharmaceutical industry hoping to enjoy the benefits of a new Toyota Corolla company car, corporate attire and serving the high falluting hospitals in Manila. Instead, they sent me to the sleepy community of Dumaguete where national hero Dr. Jose Rizal himself was deported for subversion. Well, that’s what I thought. Dumaguete was a quiet community but its Siliman University gave it an interesting environment. The students were pretty and fabulous in their own ways. They came from different interesting cities like Cebu, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Zamboanga and Cavite. In fact, Miss Siliman was the most charming girl I’ve every seen. Only that everybody thought she was a bitch.
Among my favorite places was the Cafe Memento, where I took the name of my Multiply website. It was very rustic, a hole in a wall even, but intrinsically decorated with Spanish-Filipino art. The owner was a Kastilaloy himself. His father I would have combat drinking on certain nights together with his Kastilaloy buddies who looked like Bin Laden and someone else respectively. Cafe Memento was located in a quiet street fronting the magnificent Siliman University and the ocean. You could hear the splash of waves from there.
Cafe Memento is the cafe of memories. Someday I will go back there and reminiscence the beauty of what once was a life I didn’t expect.
Saluda Dumaguete!
Originally written on Casa de Mementos (http://joshavinante.multiply.com)
February 10, 2009
making family memories one by one
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LURKS FLIRTS AND BLUEBERRY PANCAKES 